


Doused

by rufeepeach



Series: Burning Bright [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-10
Updated: 2015-11-10
Packaged: 2018-05-01 00:37:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5185529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rufeepeach/pseuds/rufeepeach
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Neal didn't die after being separated from Rumple, and Zelena curses him as well as Hook to remove Emma's magic if they kiss. Rewrite of 'Kansas', where it's Neal who Zelena forces Rumpelstiltskin to drown if Emma doesn't cooperate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Doused

**Author's Note:**

> The chronological first instalment of 'Burning Bright' 'verse, a rewrite of the series where Neal survived 'Quiet Minds'.

“Drown him,” Zelena commands, and Rumpelstiltskin feels the order shiver down the knife and down his spine, forcing his hand up, his magic out. He resists, how he resists, every inch of him fighting, every ounce of strength that Zelena has not worn away working to prevent the magic flow, to keep Bae steady, to prevent this terrible, awful, unthinkable compulsion.

She cannot make him, she won’t, he won’t let her. He won’t kill his child, he won’t murder his son, he can’t, he won’t, he mustn’t…

She strokes the dagger, and the magic slams into him and catches him sideways. It is too strong for him, the weakling, the coward, and it forces him to do the unimaginable: he hurls his son, his precious boy, across the courtyard and headfirst into the well.

Zelena cackles, merciless and sadistic, and Rumpelstiltskin’s whole body resists, cries out in agony as his magic, his own power, holds his flesh and blood beneath the water. She will force him to kill everyone he loves, and she will enjoy watching him do it. Baelfire cries out, struggles, his arms flailing. Emma is held back by Zelena’s own magic.

“You know, I thought having him kiss you and remove your powers would be a good idea,” Zelena muses, and the sound of her voice grates over Rumpelstiltskin’s ears as his soul twists with agony. “But I think making both of you watch this halfwit die will be far more entertaining.”

“Please,” he begs, he’s never begged her before but he will now, anything to save Bae, anything to keep this nightmare from unfolding. Bae will die by his hand. Bae will die because he was too weak to stop her. Bae will die by the magic that his father stole to save him. Rumpelstiltskin heaves, retches, but his hand remains raised, his magic unceasing in its obedience to the dagger. “Please let me stop.”

“It’s up to Emma,” Zelena informs him, tightly. “You can save him, sweetheart. Just pull him from the well. His dear father’s half-drowned him, of course, so he’ll need mouth-to-mouth. Which’ll it be, dear? Your magic or your boyfriend?”

“Zelena,” Rumpelstiltskin grinds between his teeth, every muscle wrenching as he attempts to resist the terrible compulsion. “I will kill you for this. If it’s the last thing I do, I will kill you.”

Zelena just laughs, and keeps her eyes on Emma, helplessly stalling by the gate. Rumpelstiltskin loathes the Saviour with all that he is in that moment: how dare she value anything over the life of his only, precious child?

Baelfire stops moving. Rumpelstiltskin sinks to his knees, his heart shattered on the ground.

He’s killed his son.

Bae’s dead. Bae’s dead, Bae’s dead, Bae’s dead and  _Rumpelstiltskin killed him_.

“NO!” Emma screams, “Neal!” she hurls her body toward Bae, dragging him from the well and pounding on his chest. “One, two, three,” she counts, and breathes into his mouth, then a repetition, “One, two, three,” another breath, but Rumpelstiltskin cannot watch, cannot see her fail now, her futile efforts to rescue the son he drowned in helpless despair.

Baelfire is dead and Rumpelstiltskin killed him. Rumpelstiltskin stares at his hands, his own hands, and cannot move an inch, or breathe, or think. The world is reduced to empty noise and blurred light, nothing real, nothing good. Baelfire is dead and Rumpelstiltskin killed him. Breathing, speaking, living on are impossible now.

Then, impossibly, Baelfire’s foot twitches. Water gushes from his mouth as he coughs, splutters weakly, and Rumpelstiltskin can barely understand what is happening because he killed him. His son is dead by his hand, and yet there he is, spluttering, coughing,  _alive_.

“I told you to drown him,” Zelena growls, and Rumpelstiltskin shakes his head at her, breathless and weak, panting through a crushed chest.

“True love, dearie,” he gasps. “You couldn’t force me to finish him anymore than you could stop her saving him.”

He hopes that’s true, tries to believe it, that it wasn’t Emma’s light magic alone but that he helped her, somehow, by resisting until his final breath. That his love for his son can still be strong enough to fight back the dark curse. He needs to believe that, or what else is there to believe in?

“Your magic is still gone,” Zelena snarls at Emma, and stalks away with an angry cry. But Emma is stroking Neal’s hair back, beaming like the sun, and no one listens, no one cares.


End file.
